Code generator



J. J. ROWE CODE GENERATOR Oct. 6, 1970 3 Sheets-Sheet 1 Filed Oct. 19,1967 Oct. 6, 1970 J. J. Rows; 3,533,102

CODE GENERATOR Filed Oct. 19, 1967 5 Sheets-Sheet 2 Figo? Y A43 AlzAuAno A9 A8 A7 A6 A5 A4 A3 vA2M JO/m J Rowe INVENTOR.

BY L 4265i@ J. J. ROWE CODE GENERATOR 5 sheets-sheet s Filed Oct. 19,1967 fla Jo/m Rowe INVENTOR. BY W 49 5 justable delay means areconnected to receive control signals from the nal stage of said counterand from said clock pulse generator.

4. The apparatus of claim 3 including second inhibiting gate means,means connecting said clock pulse generator to an input of said secondinhibiting gate means, means connecting the output of said shiftregister to a second input of said second inhibiting gate means, andmeans connecting an output of said second inhibiting gate means to thereset input of said flipop whereby a clock pulse from said clock pulsegenerator will cause said ipop to reset except when inhibited by anoutput pulse from said shift register.

6 References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,844,815 7/1958 Winick 340-347X 2,938,078 5/1960 Canfora et al. 340-347 X 3,003,144 10/1961 Tyrlick340-347 3,123,809 3/1964 Brouwer.

MAYNARD R. WILBUR, Primary Examiner 10 M. K. WOLENSKY, AssistantExaminer U.S. C1. X.R. 340-174, 348

United States Patent O 3,533,102 CODE GENERATOR John J. Rowe, Bowie,Md., assignor, by mesne assignments, to the United States of America asrepresented by the Secretary of the Navy Filed Oct. 19, 1967, Ser. No.677,008 Int. Cl. H03k 13/258 U.S. Cl. 340--347 4 Claims ABSTRACT F THEDISCLOSURE A bank of multi-position switches are adjustable to setselected cores in a magnetic shift register. The set windings areconnected through the cores in such patterns that when the switch wipersare moved to particular positions representing particular characterssuch as, for example, letters or numbers, shift pulses applied to theregister will produce a serial output representing the storedinformation.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION The invention is in the field of codegenerators. In the prior art various electromechanical and electroniccode generators have been used. However, most of them have been complex,expensive, cumbersome, and in many cases, delicate. This resulted in alack of portability and ruggedness, and excessive maintenance and powerconsumption.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION A bank of multi-position switches have theirrespective multiple contacts connected through different patterns of setwindings to set selected cores in a magnetic core shift register so thata serial coded output peculiar to each switch position can be shiftedout of the register. A switch position can represent a particular letteror other character and the serial register output can be in Morse orother code, to generate any desired output information. One obviousapplication is for a radio station call letter generator. Accessorygating and counting means sequence the letters and adjust the spacingbetween individual letters and groups of letters. The apparatus isconstructed of solid state elements to lower the Weight and powerrequirements. The resultsin a compact and rugged code generator whichrequires little maintenance or adjustment.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS FIG. 1 shows the arrangement of theprincipal elements of the apparatus.

FIG. 2 shows part of a magnetic shift register.

FIG. 3 shows the threading pattern of the core windings connected to onecontact of a multi-position switch.

FIG. 4 is a threading diagram for all the cores required to storetwenty-six call letters.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT The preferred embodiment of theinvention is shown in FIG. 1 where three switches S1, S2, and S3, eachhaving twenty-seven positions, are shown. In twenty-six of the s-witchpositions, wipers W1, W2, and W3 will rest on one of twenty-six contactsC1, C2, C3, etc. Each wiper is connected to a driver 4 to receive arespective timed ice pulse T1, T2, or T3. The like numbered contacts ofeach switch are connected together as shown, i.e., C1 of S1 is connectedto C1 of S2 and to C1 of S3, etc. Each contact is also connected througha respective line L1-L2'6 to an individual setting circuit which passesthrough the set windings of selected cores of a magnetic core shiftregister 2. Each of the switch contacts represents a single charactersuch as a call letter and the setting circuit to which it is connectedis designed to store binary bits representing that call letter in shiftregister 2. Register 2 is comprised of thirteen pairs of cores connectedthrough their respective windings as shown in FIG. 2. Each pair iscomprised of an A or storage core 1A, 2A, etc., and a B or temporarystorage core 1B, 2B, etc. As is Well known in the art, binary ls and Oisare stored in the A cores and when an A clock pulse is received on the Ashift line, the bit stored in the A core will be shifted to the B coreof that pair, and Iwhen the following B clock pulse is received at the Bshift line of register 2, the bit temporarily stored in the B core willbe shifted to the A core of the following pair. Thus, any bits stored inthe A cores will move through the register, progressing throughsucceeding pairs of cores each time a pair of clock pulses is receivedat the shift inputs. When a core stores a binary l it is` said to be setand when a binary 0 is stored the core is said to be resetf The contactsC1 of S1, S2, and S3 are connected to a setting circuit shown in FIG. 3which is connected through the set windings of the A cores A1, A2, A3,A5, A6, A7, A9, A10, A11, and A13. Each A core which is set stores abinary l which in the convention chosen may represent, in one example, adot in Morse code. Binary ls stored in three adjacent A cores representa dash. A binary 0 represents a space and the dots and dashes areseparated by a single space. A call letter is separated by threesucceeding spaces, or three adjacent 0 storing A cores. When a pulse T1is received from driver i4 it is forwarded over the Wiper W1 throughwhatever contact W1 rests on, to the connected setting circuit throughselected A cores to ground. It is apparent that when a T1 pulsetraverses the setting circuit connected to contact C1 in FIG. 3, thecores set thereby will represent a stored dash, dash, dash, dot,representing the letter I in Morse code, when read out of shift register2 in reverse order. Since all cores are initially in a reset condition,the cores A4, A8, and A12 will remain in a reset condition to representthe spaces between the dashes and dot. Contacts C2C26 of switches S1-S3are respectively connected to different setting circuits similar to thatshown in FIG. 3, but threaded through different combinations of A coresrepresenting, for example, different call letters. Thus, any call letteror other information desired may be stored in register 2 by moving oneof wipers W1-W3 to the appropriate contact C1-C26. When the appropriatetimed pulse T1, T2, or T3 is received at the wiper from driver 4, thethreaded cores of the selected setting circuit are set to store thedesired information. A Variable rate clock 6 furnishes A and B pulses tothe shift input terminals SA and SB of register 2 over lines 8 and 10.The A pulse passes through a normally open inhibiting gate 12 betweenclock 6 and register 2. Gate 12 may receive an inhibiting signal overline 14 from an adjustable one shot multi-vibrator 38 through or gate16. Y

Assume that the wipers of W1, W2, and W3 are resting

